Saturday was a day that I have been waiting for a long time, marking the return of John Mulaney to host Saturday Night Live.

For those that might not be aware, SNL is in its 50th season, and to mark this momentous anniversary, they have been posting out what I think is some of their best content ever.

This episode—which is only the fifth of this season– is the greatest episode of SNL ever made.

It all starts with the cold opening. As the election is upon us, we see Maya Rudolph again give her pretrial impression of Vice President Kamala Harris, but this time with a special surprise, as the actual Kamala Harris makes a cameo in the opening.

Rudolph and Harris faced each other as if looking into a mirror to talk to oneself. They then delivered some funny rhyming quips like “palmala” and“step-momala.”

It was fun to see such a big cameo to start out an already star-studded episode of the show.

Moving on from the cold open, we enter the host monologue, and with this being Mulaney’s sixth time hosting, the bar he has set through his previous monologues was pretty high.

But Mulaney delivers a hilarious set, poking fun at how old people are going around with bandages on their hands, and how it is so unfair that he must watch his 2-year-old son while his wife sits at home with their newborn daughter.

I actually cried tears of joy during this set from laughing so much. His jokes just scratch that part of your brain that makes you smile. It makes me feel so happy to hear his comedy styling. The man is a master of his comedic craft, and for me to have cried at an only seven-minute set felt very impressive.

An episode featuring Mulaney as a host of course cannot go by without its signature musical parody sketch, which all started years ago with the award-winning sketch “Lobster Diner.”

Another key cameo in this episode is in this sketch with the return of Pete Davidson. With all the fun little references to different musicals, it is incredibly fun to see the ones I was able to recognize. My favorite was the references that they made to the 1966 musical “Cabaret.”

Speaking of music, let me not move any further before I say that this episode’s musical guest is another one of the big highlights on why I think this episode is the best of all time.

This week’s musical guest was of course the one and only Chappell Roan.

Roan slayed the entire house down with her two performances of the night, starting off with her hit song “Pink Pony Club,” which has garnished over 278 million streams on just Spotify alone.

Vocally, a great overall performance. It can be a bit of a struggle for some artist to perform a song within the constraints of the SNL, but she was able to make the performance feel as alive as a concert performance.

I found the audience singing along to mean way more in this specific performance than many others I have seen on the show. Many SNL crowds never get heard singing in the crowd. Motivating the in-studio audience to sing along with her made for a superb performance.

Roan’s second song of the night was one of the big surprises that happened. She performed a brand-new song titled “The Giver.” This was a country song. Although Roan tries to keep Missouri Midwestern influences in her music, this is a change of pace for her modern synth-pop sound.

The set design for Roan’s performances I thought looked so amazing. “Pink Pony Club” had a very spooky Halloween-esk slumbering look. Combined with many hues of pink and purple lights, it made the stage feel dreamy.  

The set for “The Giver” was very unique. With a blend of rock gardens and woods, it matched the country stylings of the song. If you look at the background, I thought it was fun that they added some cartoon woodland creatures. It matched the country vibe well.

SNL can be very hit or miss on their musical guests. It can be hard to find someone popular, someone current and someone that can gel well with the host. Although Roan was not featured in any sketches with Mulaney, their pre-show promotional skit very much felt like they had a grasp on what was going to be expected of them by the audience.

Which of course, the two were able to deliver in many different forms.

Now a little bit of a side tangent but one sketch in my opinion particularly took the cake this week: “What’s That Name?”

The sketch was made to poke fun at those who have overused the term “most important election of our lifetimes” throughout the last couple of elections. It mainly focused on how Hilary Clinton’s running mate in 2026– Tim Kaine– is very much similar to vice presidential nominee Tim Walz.

But for some reason, Americans seem to have forgotten all about the magical harmonica playing man Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

I was shocked by this scene, as I have spent the last eight years being the person that when the question comes around, “wait who was Hilary Clinton’s running mate?” answers it with the fun fact of it being Tim Kaine.

I felt so seen during this sketch. Along with getting a chuckle out SNL cast member Michael Longfellow’s role of a game show host, hosting the show “What’s That Name?” This performance took a page out of Bill Hader’s book from Longfellow.

Of course, I cannot go without mentioning something from this week’s Weekend Update segment with Michael Che and Colin Jost. To my surprise, the writers this week were like, “what if we had Heidi Gardner pretend to be Reba McEntire giving her thoughts on the election?”

Again, another part of this episode that I specifically felt seen. I grew up in a household where me and my mom would watch Reba together. So, when a sketch like this pops up, every joke just lands with me. I love it.

This episode straight up had everything that a good episode of SNL should have. Good cameos, good jokes and great performances from the hosts, cast and music guests.

Overall, I say that if you are looking for a nice laugh check out this episode. Although John Mulaney and Chappell Roan might be my cup of tea, they might not be yours. And that is OK. One of the wonderful things about SNL is that the host and musical guest change every week so it feels fresh.

Looking to the future, I am very interested in seeing what is to come from this Saturday’s episode when Bill Burr takes up hosting duties along with performances from Mk.gee. More excitingly though, I am most looking forward to in two weeks seeing Charli XCX both host and perform.

Gunnar Olson can be reached at 581-2812 or at deneic@gmail.com.